Frontier Botany

Ickert-Bond Lab: systematics meets ecology, paleontology, and genomics

The Ickert-Bond Lab is at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and the Department of Biology & Wildlife. We are also affiliated with the Institute of Arctic Biology. Our research interests focus on understanding the phylogenetic relationship, biogeography, and gene evolution in lineages of lichens, ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants to infer historical evolutionary processes that have resulted in current patterns of biodiversity. Our research program integrates molecular approaches with original field studies, morphology, anatomy, paleobotany, and developmental studies relying on living collections. We use these techniques in a phylogenetic framework to 1) address questions about processes at the macro-evolutionary levels, 2) to unravel the evolutionary and biogeographic origins of the Eastern Asian – Western North American floristic pattern, and 3) to address diversification dynamics by looking at trait-evolution, plant-animal interactions and niche evolution.

Latest News

Lichen walk

Former student Celia Hampton Miller, co-author of the upcoming Compendium of Alaska Lichens led a group of ~ 20 participants on a lichen walk on the ski trails at UAF.[…]

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Anderson School visit – from the field to the cabinet

Five students visited the University of Alaska Museum of the North Herbarium Wednesday from Anderson school to process their specimens and learn about the herbarium, how to mount plants and[…]

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Charles Edwin Bessie Teaching Award from the Botanical Society of America

Honored to have been selected as the recipient of the Charles Edwin Bessie Teaching Award by the Botanical Society of America. The award was given at the recent joint annual[…]

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